Monday, March 20, 2017

“Writing, like life itself, is a voyage of discovery. The adventure is a metaphysical one: it is a way of approaching life indirectly, of acquiring a total rather than a partial view of the universe. The writer lives between the upper and lower worlds: he takes the path in order eventually to become the path himself.”

— Henry Miller from “Reflections on Writing”

On Writing was originally published in Go Into The Story on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

The showrunners and cast of highly anticipated series ‘American Gods’ shared some BTS secrets at SXSW.

Television’s evolution as an increasingly viable and respectable platform for filmmakers was further confirmed with the American Gods sneak preview world premiere at—none other than—a film festival. It was the SXSW film festival, to be exact, and the line of filmmakers, film lovers, and sci-fi fans waiting to get in was hundreds long.

American Gods is a new series premiering on the Starz network next month, and based on the bestselling novel of the same name by cult author, graphic novelist, and screenwriter Neil Gaiman. In a pre-recorded video, Gaiman himself introduced the pilot episode, assuring the audience that we were the “first people in the entire world” to see the show.

“Nothing is ever as it seems in this show. It’s reveal after reveal after reveal.”

Seth Rogen pitched a series based on the controversial comic for 10 years until he got the green light.

Sitting down for a session focused on the making of Preacher, Seth Rogen, showrunner Sam Catlin, and original comic creator Garth Ennis gave behind-the-scenes explanations about how to keep the show grounded while still exploring blood, blasphemy, and what everybody else considers way too f*cked up. No Film School sat in on it and compiled some of the best points from the talk.

Be persistent—the industry might change

Rogen first recalled talking about how much he wanted to make this show on the set of Pineapple Express in 2006. “The project kept going to more qualified people, but we kept pursuing it. Eventually, we were the guys who were left. In that time, TV went from just a thing you watched on Thursday night, to a place where you could watch incredible things. In that decade, TV became the platform that could support something like this.”

“TV went from just a thing you watched on Thursday night, to a place where you could watch incredible things.”

Sunday, March 19, 2017

Ever since Maleficent was released in 2014, Disney has been obsessed with giving their animated classics the live-action remake treatment. However, out of the four that have followed, only Beauty and the Beast has been a full fledged musical. And as of now, it sounds like the lack of signature tunes in Disney’s live-action remakes will continue with the Mulan remake that’s in the works.

Mulan has Niki Caro attached to direct the live-action remake of the movie about a young girl who impersonates a man in order to join the Chinese military so that her ailing father won’t be drafted and sent to war. The film is in the final stages of pre-production, and that’s enough for Caro to know what kind of remake we’re looking at, and fans might be disappointed to hear that the original songs from the animated film are not part of the plan.

Caro recently spoke to Moviefone while promoting the arrival of her new movie The Zookeeper’s Wife. While she said that her version of the 1998 animated favorite would be “a big, girly martial arts epic” just like the animated movie, she also confirmed that Mulan remake is not a musical:

“Yes, from what I understand, no songs right now, much to the horror of my children.”

Caro’s children likely aren’t going to be the only fans horrified by a lack of songs in the new Mulan. However, this really shouldn’t be surprising when you look at how Disney has been approaching most of these remakes. The Jungle Book only incorporated a couple songs into the movie, including “Bare Necessities” and a different version of King Louie’s song “I Wanna Be Like You.” Meanwhile, Cinderella didn’t have any songs.

It’s not hard to understand why a change like this is taking place. The tone and style that the Mulan remake is going for would likely be upset by the inclusion of any musical sequences. Making those kind of interludes feel natural and organic rather than distracting can be difficult, especially if the entire movie isn’t a musical. Still, it would be nice if Niki Caro figured out a way to at least include “I’ll Make a Man Out of You” somehow:

Our best hope is that Caro does say “no songs right now,” which indicates that their approach could change at some point. The film is supposed to start shooting in China this spring, though we have no idea who is starring in the movie yet. Hopefully we’ll find out more about Mulan soon.

Riverdale episode 9 photos: La Grande Illusion

Ahead of episode 8’s premire on March 30, The CW has released the first photos from Riverdale Episode 9, which you can check out in the gallery below!

Titled “Chapter Nine: La Grande Illusion,” the episode is set to air April 6 and is officially described as follows:

“Archie (KJ Apa) reluctantly agrees to escort Cheryl (Madelaine Petsch) to her family’s official start of maple syrup tapping because he gets an offer that could help his future. Archie starts to become skeptical of the real reason the Blossoms are so eager to help him, however he gets some helpful information for Betty (Lili Reinhart) about her sister. Veronica (Camila Mendes) is trying to be nice and unbeknownst to her, befriends a classmate that her father’s illegal doings has hurt. Hermione (Marisol Nichols) is conflicted about telling Fred (Luke Perry) the truth. Meanwhile, Alice (Madchen Amick) is ready to get revenge on the Blossoms once and for all with the help of her two daughters.

Read the script for the acclaimed indie thriller and discuss next week.

In 2015, we launched several initiatives at Go Into The Story. One of the best: A script read and analysis series. As a result, there are now 63 scripts GITS readers have analyzed. Moreover volunteers have written up scene-by-scene breakdowns, not only to serve as a foundation for our week-long discussions, but also to create an online resource for writers. To date, we have 53 scene-by-scene breakdowns. Thanks to Joni Brainerd, we’ll be adding a new one next week.

Beginning Monday, March 20, we will spend a week digging into and analyzing the movie script The Invitation, written by Phil Hay and Matt Manfredi.

I’m a big fan of producer Mynette Louie and what she and her cohorts are doing at Gamechanger Films, a film fund for women directors, so when I saw The Invitation (directed by Karyn Kusama) was coming out last year, I made it a point to watch it on VOD the week it went into distribution. I loved it! I got in touch with Mynette who connected me with the movie’s screenwriters Matt Manfredi and Phil Hay, and we ended up having a great conversation about their careers, the craft of writing and their thriller movie The Invitation.

Finally allow me to use the words of one of Hollywood’s hottest screenwriters to bludgeon you over the head with the value of reading scripts. From one of my most recent interviews, Jon Spaihts responds to my final question, What advice would you offer to aspiring screenwriters about learning the craft and breaking into Hollywood? Here’s his answer:

Read the script and then watch the movie. Watch the movie and then read the script. Watch the movie with the script in your lap. Study the parts. You have to see through the surfaces. Being a fan is insufficient. Break it down. That means slowing it down and looking at it through a series of different lenses.

Once you’ve begun to do that, you can see what the parts of a screenplay and the parts of a movie do.

First thing Jon said: Read scripts.

Here’s your chance to do just that by digging into The Invitation and analyzing the story all next week.

Before the new film hits the big screen, take a look back at the greatest Power Rangers monsters

On March 24,Saban‘s Power Rangers are getting their long-awaited return to the big screen. It’s been twenty years since the Power Rangers last had a feature film release in this country, and the new movie is going to not only reboot the original characters, but also the classic villains like Rita Repulsa (played in the new film by Elizabeth Banks) and Goldar. However, it doesn’t seem likely that the film will use many of the signature giant Power Rangers monsters.

Part of the charm of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers was the inherent cheesiness of the creatures and the comically-low production values. The original show and its subsequent seasons were created around footage from the various Japanese Super Sentai series; which were pretty ridiculous to begin with. But we have to admit, those shows were pretty imaginative with their monsters. Any inanimate object could potentially become the next big villain, and we loved it. It had no business working as well as it did, and yet it spawned a franchise that is still going on today.

Before the new hits theaters on Friday, March 24, we’ve put together a list of our favorite Power Rangers monsters from the original series. Who knows? If Lionsgate‘s new Power Rangers turns out to be a hit, maybe we’ll see some of them again!

10. King Sphinx

In addition to having one of the show’s most memorable monster designs, King Sphinx earns his place on this list thanks to his prowess as a fighter. Unlike many Power Rangers villains, King Sphinx could actually battle the Rangers to a standstill and he even came close to defeating the Red Ranger (Austin St. John), thanks to an assist from Goldar.

Naturally, it took the Megazord to put King Sphinx down for good. But this is definitely a villain that we’d want to see again, if the producers can avoid the temptation to give him a Goldar-style makeover.

9. Impursonator

Can you imagine Kristen Schaal as the voice of a Power Rangers villain? Because that would probably be Impursonator, a bizarre villain from the original series. Impursonator was literally a purse that was accidentally transformed by Rita (played by Carla Perez and voice by Barbara Goodson), and she took on a life of her own.

While the design for Impursonator wasn’t the show’s finest decision, she was surprisingly resilient to harm… which made her an actual threat. She even stole one of the Zords and used it to battle the Rangers on their own terms. Not many villains have ever managed to do that!

8. Pirantishead

There are plenty of cool Power Rangers villains, but how many of them have their own fish-shaped nunchuks/flutes? Pirantishead is in a class all by himself in that regard. He was also one of the few Power Rangers villains who managed to turn the Zords against the heroes; which made him one of Lord Zedd’s signature creations. And yes, Pirantishead was an actual piranha before Zedd got a hold of him.

7. Terror Toad

Terror Toad isn’t memorable for his design or his concept. Instead, he’s probably best remembered for the hilarious visual of the way that he actually swallowed several Power Rangers whole and almost defeated the entire team. Technically, the swallowed Rangers were transformed into energy before placed in his stomach. Still cool, though.

The Pink Ranger (Amy Jo Johnson) was the last Ranger standing to fight Terror Toad, so it was fitting that she got to deliver the fatal blow to him.

6. Mutitus

Mutitus was easily one of the most striking villains from the early days of the Rangers, and one of the most powerful enemies as well. Mutitus not only held his own against the Megazord and the Dragzonzord, he also mutated into an even more impressive second form and proceeded to give the Rangers everything that they could handle and more.

5. Face Stealer

Face Stealer had the memorably creepy ability to live up to his name. Hidden behind his retractable pumpkin face, Face Stealer could literally lick the face off of his victims and store them on his own body. If David Cronenberg ever decides to create a Power Rangers villain, it would probably be like this one.

4. Eye Guy

If you’ve never been creeped out by characters who have too many eyes, then Eye Guy may cure you of that. Eye Guy was made up almost entirely of eyes, all of which hid his giant eye inside of him. Eye Guy was also one of the few Power Rangers villains to make repeat appearances on the show, and he still weirds us out!

3. Snizzard

You may have heard that Breaking Bad’s Bryan Cranston was once a struggling actor who had two voiceover roles on the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. Snizzard was one of those monsters, and he’s been the one that has been embraced by fans because he’s got Cranston’s voice.

Much like Eye Guy was all eyes, Snizzard was pretty much all snakes. That included the cobras that made up his arms and legs, as well as the “tonsil snakes” that he used as projectile weapons. But perhaps his most